Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Diseases (IMIDs) are a group of common autoimmune diseases that include clinically heterogeneous disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis and systemic lupus erythematosus. Despite their clinical heterogeneity, IMIDs share a significant number of features at the molecular and cellular levels. Recently developed therapies targeting common key molecules of the immune system like anti-TNF agents, have collectively resulted in a significant improvement in the management of IMIDs. Still, the complete control of the chronic inflammatory process is rarely attained, and too many patients experience a poor response, if at all. This inefficacy has become a major economic burden and severely impacts on the wellbeing of many European citizens. The DocTIS projects aims to profoundly change this trend by identifying highly effective combinatorial therapies as well as the group of patients where this response will be optimal. Using the standardized samples from one of the world’s largest biobanks specialized in IMIDs, new molecular data will be generated using advanced high-throughput technologies including single cell RNA-seq. Systems biology methods will be applied to this unique clinical and molecular data to model the response to targeted therapies and predict what drug combinations will act synergistically and on which types of patients. After validation in a preclinical stage, the optimal combinatorial therapy will be tested in a group of patients with a positive biomarker profile. Using a basket trial, a new type of clinical trial design that incorporates molecular marker information, the DocTIS project will provide proof of concept of the utility of combinatorial therapy and personalized medicine for the effective control of disease activity in IMIDs.

This research proposal aims at rethinking a collective and proactive concept of responsibility towards nature and future generations, on the basis of the understanding of nature developed by German Idealism in the early 19th century and the theory of responsibility first advanced by Hans Jonas in the 20th century. I will articulate my research into two steps, which aim at two objectives: 1) I will first work on the rational foundation of collective proactive responsibility towards the world in which we live, that is the duty to take care of it. This is the objective side of my research, in the sense that it grounds on a consideration of human beings as rational and responsible agents in themselves, in a Kantian sense. To reach this first objective (which is the most challenging one), a further step is needed: the elaboration of a concept of nature and its relation to human being able to take into account (1.1) the ontological continuity between nature and human being and with this the value of nature and life in themselves; (1.2) the primary responsibility of humans. All this will be possible analyzing and revitalizing the concept of nature in German Idealism and studying its ethical implications. 2) Second, I will investigate the role of human motivation, the context and the consequences of human action as essential part of any theory of responsibility. This is the subjective side of my research, that aims at providing the bridge between the formal foundation of the concept of collective responsibility and its application. In this part, my research will deal with the key concepts of respect, care towards vulnerable nature and future human beings, and fear of a collapse of nature and our future lives. The concept of collective responsibility generated by this project might show its fertility also with reference to contemporary debates (like those related to environmental issues).

Developing a fair, healthy, and environmentally friendly food system represents a key priority of the European Green Deal. This is expressed in particular through the ‘Farm to Fork Strategy’, which recognises the need to empower consumers to make informed, healthy and sustainable food choices and to reduce food loss and food waste. FOODMISSION aims therefore to use multi-actor and inclusive Transformation Labs and blend citizen science, learning and gamification approaches to understand citizens’ food practices for initiating behavioural changes, and ultimately engage and motivate to accelerate the uptake of more sustainable food behaviour. The project objectives are the following: (1) Setting up Transformation Labs that will support the project through all its phases from co-design to uptake, (2) Design of a comprehensive citizen science data framework, collecting and processing citizen-generated data on their food practices and development of a technical data infrastructure and data visualisation tools to support data sharing and analysis, (3) Design of a citizen motivation and engagement framework for empowering individual and collective change, (4) Co-development of a gamified educational virtual platform prototype and its content and activities, (5) Piloting and evaluation of the gamified educational virtual platform in 6 European countries, (6) Promotion of FOODMISSION’s key exploitable results and their impact to engage citizens for fair, inclusive, healthy, and sustainable food system in Europe and uptake of the outputs beyond the project and consortium. FOODMISSION will further contribute to the Food 2030 pathways for action. The interdisciplinary consortium is composed of 10 members based in 8 European countries, bringing together universities, innovative companies and various stakeholder organisations representing consumers, food retailers and food enterprises, and covering diverse socio-economic and demographic contexts.

The overall objective of this 5-year project is to build a multinational, adaptive European COVID-19 and emerging infectious diseases trial network, based on existing initiatives, experience and expertise, allowing European expansion of DisCoVeRy (WP1) and the establishment of a COVID19 adaptive platform trial (WP2). The DisCoVeRy trial, designed as a multi-arm adaptive repurposing trial, initiated in France, has the potential to expand to many other European countries with appropriate support in terms of multinational funding and trial management capacity. This will complete the evaluation of repurposed drugs, while building a European clinical trial network which, together with other European networks such as the Solidarity trial, will design and run a new European platform trial. EU-RESPONSE will swiftly generate robust evidence for drug repurposing or registration, through a modular trial framework allowing most European hospitals to participate at their preferred level of commitment, thus building a network of investigation sites within European and associated countries. Cooperation with other European platforms, in particular the RECOVER consortium platform will be achieved through a joint coordination mechanism aligned with European and national policies (WP3), ensuring a coordinated strategy for the European COVID-19 Adaptive Platform Trials, their complementarity in providing access for requests for a new domain or arm, their synergy and cross-fertilization through the development of a common toolbox for the development and the management of Adaptive Platform Trials. Joining forces in Europe and with international partners, it will contribute to the global clinical trial capacity for urgently meeting the expectations of society and developers. It will also boost multinational cooperation in Europe and promote the establishment of adaptive platform trials in other diseases, and will have a major impact on epidemic control.